China: Putin’s invasion, the arctic, and undue influence in Canada

Prime Minister Mark Carney has tied Canada into a “strategic partnership” with China, signing a number of deals with President Xi Jinping. This partnership is the manifestation of Carney’s mission to align Canada with “like minded partners,” building a new coalition of countries that share Canadians’ values – such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Aside from the much-publicized canola-for-EV cars trade agreement, the Carney Liberals signed multiple deals on police and public safety, cyber intelligence, media, energy and natural resources development, and foreign investment access. Carney heralded his successes in Beijing as the “new era” in Canadian-Sino relations, even though CCP’s politics and global designs conflict directly with Canada’s long standing foreign affairs positions – and, most significantly, with Canadians’ national interests. 

 

Carney’s dramatic foreign relations realignment alongside China will come with glaring disconnects and some untold compromises – and, undoubtedly, there will be consequences for Canadians. Consider three issues that have been in the media in the last few weeks: Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s interests in the arctic, and new documented record of the CCP’s undue influence in Canada.  

 

China enabling Putin’s continued war effort

 

It was four years ago – Feb. 24, 2022 – that the invasion of Ukraine began and, today, Russian forces continue to grind their way forward, leaving a destructive wake of uninhabitable cities and countryside, and unsparing human misery and death. Russian President Vladimir Putin remains antagonistic, defiant in the face of western countries’ sanctions and the threat of a European military response. Putin has been emboldened with the unconditional support of Xi. With China enabling Putin’s continued war effort, there is no foreseeable end to the bloodshed in Ukraine. 

 

Radio Free Europe reports that the relationship between Putin and Xi has tightened with new trade agreements for Russian oil and natural gas sales, and expanded Chinese critical minerals and drone production, and an increased trade of dual-use goods such as microelectronics and industrial equipment. China is now supplying Russia with 70 – 90 per cent of microelectronics for Russian military equipment. It is also supplying Russia with satellite intelligence of Ukraine troop movements. Over the past few months, the Russian rocket and artillery fire power is 10 times that of Ukraine fire. Recent intelligence reported in Bloomberg News reveals China is now using Thailand as a backdoor channel to smuggle tens of millions of dollars of Chinese-made drones to the Russian front. In summarizing the current war effort, an anonymous European Union diplomat told the Radio Free Europe, “What we are seeing is that without China’s support for Russia in this war, Russia probably would not be able to do what it’s doing.”

 

The stark reality is that, with China’s active involvement in this conflict, there is little chance of peace anytime soon. And so, on the fourth anniversary of Putin’s invasion, Carney entertained an Ottawa media scrum to make the announcement that Canada is pledging another $2 billion, including an additional 400 armoured vehicles to help the Ukrainian army face its fifth year of warfare. Striking his best Churchillian posture, Carney asserted, “We’re in it for the long haul. Russia is failing. The sooner they come to the table and actually participate in peace negotiations, the better it will be.” This is posturing to a Canadian audience, for what Carney left out of his comments on the war is that Canada’s new strategic partner is, in fact, responsible for furthering the destruction and misery in Ukraine. 

 

China’s arctic powerplay

 

In a 2018 policy white paper, the CCP described China as a “near-Arctic state” and set an objective to build a “Polar Silk Road” that would develop Chinese shipping routes and economic and research activities in the arctic. The CCP committed a trillion-dollar program to develop new global trade through the arctic by building transport, energy and other infrastructure. China worked mostly with its arctic-nation ally Russia, but it also invested heavily in Greenland’s mineral resources, for both on and offshore exploration. Chinese ice-breaking expeditions have been successful; in 2025 a container ship connected Asia to Europe through the Northern Sea Route in 20 days. This is hailed as the “fastest delivery in the history of container shipping” from Asia to Europe, cutting in half the time it would take for Chinese ships to traverse the Suez Canal. 

 

China is building a formidable fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, designed to break through ice up to 2.5 meters thick. These ships will open up the arctic for China’s economic and geopolitical activities. China and its Russian ally’s movements in the arctic are a preoccupation of Washington and have recently mobilized NATO to re-evaluate its arctic strategy. At the recent World Economic Forum assembly in Davos Switzerland, U.S. President Donald Trump wrestled new agreements with Denmark for expanded American military operations in Greenland, and then with NATO to enhance its defence capabilities in the arctic. In fact, the Davos meetings were punctuated with NATO Chief Mark Rutte recognizing the increased activity of Russia and China in the arctic and stating, “President Trump is right – we have to do more there. We have to protect the arctic against Russian and Chinese influence.” The newfound resolve of NATO has countered China executing its arctic powerplay via Greenland and its waters – for the time being.

 

But is it conceivable that the CCP’s new deals with the Carney Liberals opened another door for the CCP’s arctic aspirations where the Greenland door was just slammed shut? This is the possibility that Conservative MP Shuv Majumdar explored in a recent exchange with the assistant director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) at the parliamentarian committee. Paul Lynd stated CSIS’s primary concerns respecting the arctic are CCP’s attempts to control the critical minerals sector and to gain footholds in critical infrastructure, “It’s foreign interference in our economic sector…. The concern we have would be with clandestine or deceptive investment practices or economic engagement in certain market sectors in the Arctic.” 

 

CCP’s undue influence in Canada 

 

Earlier this month, U.S. think tank, The Jamestown Foundation, published a report, entitled “Harnessing the People: Mapping Overseas United Front Work in Democratic States,” that documents the CCP’s global network of more than 2,000 organizations that work within western democracies to undermine their national interests and advance CCP foreign relations objectives. In Canada there are 575 groups linked to the CCP’s United Front organization. (View the Canadian press conference of Feb. 11 on Parliament Hill.) This latest report further validates the findings of a series of Canadian reviews of foreign interference and influence – from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians report of July 2024, which found MPs who colluded with foreign governments, to the Hogue Commission Report of January 2025, which found foreign interference with the Canadian political process and the federal elections of 2019 and 2021.     

 

Investigative journalist Sam Cooper of The Bureau interviewed Dimon Liu, a China security expert based in Washington, D.C. and she commented on Canada and the Jamestown report, “Canada is a very important target for the party [CCP] because it’s open, it’s influential, and it’s intertwined with the United States economically and politically. The interesting thing I saw in cases related to Canada is that individuals linked with United Front system agencies openly share their access to Canadian leadership.” In The Bureau article “Experts Warn Canada Is China’s ‘Prototype’ for Democratic Infiltration”, Cooper underlines the research about the CCP’s elite capture in Canada, “Yu’s research identified individuals with United Front-linked backgrounds who became candidates at the city and provincial level in Canada, cultivating close personal relationships with prime ministers and senior officials — relationships they then, according to the data, leveraged on Beijing’s behalf.”

 

As these revelations come to light, the Liberal government continues to strengthen its ties to the CCP and its network; Carney signed new agreements respecting police, public safety, intelligence, etc. and he has refused to make public the details of the agreements. This worries Conservative public safety critic MP Frank Caputo who has demanded (without any response) public safety minister Gary Anandasangaree to inform MPs of the contents of Carney’s MOU on cooperation between the RCMP and CCP’s ministry of public security. There was also the breaking news this week that the Liberals are easing immigration rules to permit the fast tracking of foreign military personnel to enter into Canada and be employed in the Canadian Forces. The Liberals want to attract foreign military members with “specialized skills,” including pilots to fly F-35 fighter jets – the American-made fighter jet that is used for NATO defence. General Jennie Carignan, Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff, also made public this week the Forces are seeking foreign recruits who can operate advanced military gear, such as long-range precision weapons, new drones, and those skilled in cyber and space warfare. (How long is it going to take before we hear from our NATO partners that Canada has become a security threat?) 

 

It is incredible to think a Canadian prime minister would be realigning this democratic country with no public discussions or parliamentary disclosure, tying Canadians’ lot with Beijing communists, desecrating the country’s standing and trusted reputation with its traditional trading and defence allies. Yet, Carney continues to systematically implement China-friendly policies and practices to consummate his strategic partnership and Canada’s new era with the CCP.